Russia's New Missile Barrage Hits Odesa and Zaporizhzhia
A fresh wave of Russian strikes killed two people in Odesa and wounded four in Zaporizhzhia, as Ukraine hit back at Moscow's tanker fleet in the Sea of Azov.
- A Russian missile strike on Odesa killed two people and wounded one man.
- The number of wounded in the attack on Zaporizhzhia rose to four.
- Ukrainian air defenses shot down 7 Kh-59/69 missiles and 95 drones.
- Ukraine struck back at 10 Russian tankers and four ferries in the Sea of Azov.
For Belgrade, which for a second year is balancing between its European perspective and an energy reality in which Moscow remains a major player, every new wave of Russian strikes on Ukrainian ports is not distant news: the grain and oil corridors that run through the Sea of Azov and the Black Sea help shape prices on the Serbian market too. Over the past two days Russia has again pounded southern Ukraine, while Kyiv has answered with one of the widest series of attacks on Russian maritime logistics since the war began.
A war that the West reads through the prism of the sanctions regime and the transatlantic bond is, for Serbia, at the same time a question of supply, prices and diplomatic maneuvering between Brussels and the Kremlin. That is why the sequence of the latest strikes deserves attention from this corner of Europe as well.
Odesa and Zaporizhzhia in the crosshairs again
The Russian strike on Odesa hit a civilian infrastructure facility. Two people were killed and one man was wounded by shrapnel. The Ukrainian Sea Ports Authority said that for the second day in a row the civilian port infrastructure of the Odesa region had come under fire, confirming that Moscow is systematically targeting export capacity in the country’s south.
On the same day the number of wounded in the Russian attack on Zaporizhzhia rose to four. According to Ukrainian figures, air defenses shot down seven Kh-59/69 missiles and as many as 95 drones, an illustration of the scale of combined salvos that pair cruise missiles with cheap unmanned aircraft. Kyiv describes such barrages as an attempt to exhaust Ukraine’s defensive system before help from Western partners arrives.
Unlike earlier phases of the war, when strikes were aimed above all at the energy grid, this latest wave shows a shift of focus toward ports and logistics, the points where the military and economic interests of both sides intersect.
Why is Ukraine targeting Russia’s shadow fleet?
Kyiv’s answer came at sea. Ukrainian forces said they had struck ten Russian tankers and four ferries in the Sea of Azov. These are vessels of the so-called shadow fleet that Moscow uses to move crude and refined products while circumventing international sanctions, thereby financing its continued aggression. For Kyiv, attacking this fleet is a way to hit the source of revenue rather than only the front line.
The consequences are already being felt in maritime traffic: Russia has made transit through key waterways in the region more difficult, further complicating the export of oil and grain from its southern ports. For the Ukrainian military, which estimates that Russia suffered around 39,490 losses in June alone, this is confirmation that the war is being waged in factories, refineries and ports, not only in the trenches.
For Serbia’s European perspective, this development carries a clear message. Every further escalation strengthens Brussels’s pressure on membership candidates to align with the Union’s foreign and security policy, including the sanctions regime against Moscow. The diplomatic channel through which Belgrade has kept its balance for years is narrowing as the war drags on and moves from land to sea.
How long can Serbia hold its neutral position while the corridors on which its supply depends turn into a battlefield?
